The invention relates to a device for supporting a guitar string above the keyboard.
Mechanisms for adjusting the spaced relationship between a guitar string and the keyboard are known as are mechanisms for adjusting the string supports longitudinally of the strings so that the strings may be tuned to the keyboard of the guitar. Such mechanisms suffer from various disadvantages. In some cases, the vertical adjustment of a string at either the nut or bridge end of the keyboard can only be accomplished by a similar vertical adjustment to all of the strings on the guitar. In other cases, mechanisms have been devised to permit the vertical adjustments of each individual string but they have the disadvantage among others that the mechanisms are complicated in structure and hence expensive to manufacture. Typical prior art devices are evident in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,335,142, 1,338,583, 1,475,345, 1,571,118, 2,959,085, 3,429,214 and 3,599,524.
The ability to vertically adjust the location of the supports for guitar strings in conventional guitars is desired primarily to facilitate easier depression of the strings into the keyboard positions. The vertically adjustable string supports that are in common use are accordingly mainly provided to facilitate development of the string touch characteristics that are most familiar or most acceptable to the player.
In recent years developments have been made which enable other instruments to be played in duet fashion by a person playing a guitar. The tone producers of the other instruments are usually keyed in such instances by an electrical switching action that is initiated by the finger manipulations of the guitar player on the guitar keyboard. Among the various methods for accomplishing the switching actions are those which involve the use of so-called "birfurcated" frets with fret segments that form components of an electrical circuit which is energized by a switching action that transpires when the string is depressed into contact with the fret segment. These methods, which may involve string contact with one or more frets in order to key in a tone producer of the other instrument, are illusted in the following U.S. patents among others: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,465,086, 3,786,167 and 3,871,247. With such instruments, the need for the proper adjustment of the keyboard fret and string relations is most critical and current methods have generally been unacceptable.